Rosa Umbriæ
by Rowana Renee
Summary: A short little one-shot from the point of view of a statue in Bellezza. Rated for mention of death and bloody-stuff, though non-graphic.


Rosa Umbriæ

She watched as drops of rain, like tears from the heavens, fled from their homes in the clouds to dive as fish for what could have been an age, yet was really only a moment of a heartbeat, to strike the cold, slippery cobbles to splash lightly as they became one and turned into a shallow stream that flowed along the road to later wash into the sea.

She could feel the cold wind against her back, but she neither shivered nor moved to acknowladge that anything had touched her. She had seen too many things to be bothered by a little wind. She had felt too many things as well.

She was the Umbrian Rose, as beautiful as the flower she was named for as she stood stoically in the town square of Bellezza. Her eyes were wide and almond shaped, their dark grey depths showing no emotion yet appearing as innocent as a newborn. Her face was shadowed and narrow, with many scars. High arching eyebrows gave her an air of sarcasm and good humour, while her mouth was frozen into a half-smirk at some unheard joke told by a ghostly friend. Her hair was long and almost black, with a hint of grey showing through, and it was well-combed, though a bit messy as well, as if she'd been running.

Water lapped around her feet, but she never moved an inch; she was too busy watching. You see, the Rose of Umbria must watch everything, anything, and all that should take place, has taken place, or is taking place; it is her job.

She watched the city crumble, saw the fires that burned the homes and the people, saw the murderers come and strike down everyone in their path. She felt nothing as she watched, only gazed on in silence. She watched as the city was taken back from them, she saw the rejoicing that followed and watched as children returned to dance in the streets as the homes were re-built.

They'd placed a wreath of flowers upon her head, she remembered, and strewn flowers all about her as they danced. She had no feeling as she watched though; it was her job, her destiny, to watch and so she could feel nothing.

She watched as sickness killed off so many that bodies were left in the streets and black birds, like demons of the darkest night, feasted upon them. She watched as the bodies were burned to prevent the sickness from spreading. She watched as children and elders sucombed to the illness as were burned as well. She watched, and felt nothing. She couldn't feel anything; She was the Umbrian Rose.

She watched as the sickness was ended and as the city became great again. Once again the people danced around her and sang, laughed, cried, or simply stared. She watched them in silence, never saying a word. She felt nothing.

She watched as children played in the streets, ran about and laughed. She watched as three children cornered another and left him lying there to die over a bit of pocket money. She watched as the lad crawled to her for comfort, which she gave willingly. She watched as he grew into one of the worst criminals known to Bellezza. She watched as he made a way for the _others _to come.

Now she felt something. It was a deep hatred for these _others_. They were coming into her city and acting as if they were a part of her world! They didn't even have shadows! She knew that these _others _must be wrong, in some way. She'd never felt this way before, for she was the Umbrian Rose, she wasn't supposed to feel things. But she knew that the _others _were impure in some way or another. They must be.

She watched as one of _them _murdered the duchess and took the posistion for herself, watched as that same woman had a daughter of her own, who became the next duchess, and all of those after her who became the next duchesses.

She watched, year after year, as the _others _slowly faded away and purity returned to her land. Once again she felt nothing. She wasn't supposed to feel anything. But then she watched another thing.

She watched as a new person came to Bellezza. He was one of the _others_, so she was determined to hate him as she had those like him. But then, oddly, her pure duchess, whom she'd watched for a long time before then, seemed to become friends with the boy. It couldn't be!

She watched as the boy returned, time and again, and as he saved the life of her duchess, and as he was nearly killed. She had started to feel a new way toward him by then, and she didn't know what the feeling was.

She saw him in the tower, without the book that would make him leave, and saw something happen to him that couldn't be explained. When the sun shone again he had a shadow. She didn't know what had happened, but he was, clearly, one of hers.

She didn't know the horror that had just befallen two people back where the boy was from, nor did she care. She watched and watched, watched everything that happened. She watched as the boy wed her duchess, watched their children grow and learn. She watched it all, for she was the Umbrian Rose.  
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**I'm sorry it's not very good; but it's been a LONG time since I've read that book. A REALLY long time. Please don't kill me. I might do a re-make later...^;^**


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